Steaming

Steaming

Steaming is a cooking method which uses steam to cook the food. Steaming is one of the cooking methods which use least oil and can be considered as one of the healthiest cooking methods. Steaming can preserve the original taste and sweetness of the ingredients and also the nutritious of the food.

How to do steaming?

First, place the food onto a plate if you would like maintain some "juice" of the food, and then place the plate into the steamer. Steamer is typically a circular container made of metal or bamboo, and it usually has a lid to cover the container tightly during cooking to allow the steam to cook the food. Then, fill a work or pot with less than half water, boil the water. Place the steamer in the wok.

If proper steamer is unavailable, you can place a bowl upside down on the bottom of the wok; add water (water should not cover the bowl). Put a heatproof plate on the bowl and place food on the heatproof plate, cover and steam.

But nowadays, you can also get an electric steamer which comes with timer and different sizes. It is as simple as placing water at the bottom of the steamer, set the timer, and it will start steaming the food for the time period you have set. You can also use microwave oven which comes with steaming feature to steam your food. Both electric steamer and microwave oven provide similar result as the above conventional methods.  

How long should you steam your food?

This really depends on what ingredients that you are using. If you steam a medium size fish, you will only need to cook it for 15 - 20 minutes. For vegetables, you may only need 10 minutes; but for meat you will need longer time such as 30 minutes or more.

If you are using electric steamer or microwave oven, it normally provides you the recommended time for each type of ingredients. Thus, for new learners, it is easier to use electric steamer and microwave oven than conventional steamer.

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